Striped Christmas
by Moonlight Sonata94
Summary: Surely, Yi Jung must know how much her wife loves candy canes?


**Disclaimer:** All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

…..

Decided to share my one shots here. This one shot is for the Christmas collaboration that happened last year in soeulscribbler. Hope you all would enjoy it!

I'm named trishabel04 at soeulscribbler (in case you're confused) and Moonlight Sonata at simplylove. Thanks for the support all of you!

…..

**STRIPED CHRISTMAS**

Three girls are sitting outside a coffee shop located in the heart of Seoul, South Korea. It is already December and Christmas is three days away. The streets are filled with snow. Everywhere, people could see Seoul's Christmas spirit. Both men and women are dressed in Santa Claus costumes outside few of the shops. Some even went out of their way and decorated their shops in colourful banners and ribbons, snowflakes on glass doors, little snowman figurines, and glittery Christmas balls. Both adults and kids eyes light up when they see them.

The joyful spirit of Christmas makes everyone's mood bright and merry! And when you look at the three girls sipping their choice of tea or coffee, they are not an exception. Geum Jan Di, Chu Ga Eul, and Ha Jae Kyung were giggling nonstop, so much that they are refraining themselves from laughing so loudly.

"It's a good thing you came home this year, Jae Kyung-ah!" Jan Di manages to say once their fits of laughter died down. She sips her tea before grinning at her two companions.

The Ha heiress nods her head in agreement. Everything is perfect. Right after she arrived from the US last night, she immediately called up her two close friends and decided to meet up with them. She sighs in content as she leans back on her chair. "Hmm…"

"Something tells me she didn't come back home for us, Jan Di." A very pregnant Ga Eul states in a teasing tone, making Jae Kyung blush.

"I agree." With an evil smile on her face, Jan Di looks at Jae Kyung, ready to dish the dirt out of her. "So, what's happening between you and Woo Bin?"

Jae Kyung glances at both of her friends who were obviously waiting for her to spill the beans. She feels like she could melt in front of them with their evil grins. "Look, guys…" She starts to reason with them. But she realized even her cutest pout cannot get her out of this mess. "Fine!" She throws her hands into the air with a frustrated groan. "Well, we planned a trip to Jeju. We're leaving tomorrow evening."

Jan Di and Ga Eul squeal in delight.

"That's great!"

"I can hear the weddings bells already!"

Seeing her supportive friends so happy for her, Jae Kyung couldn't help but grin.

"I'm actually planning to surprise him. I booked a flight earlier. I'm going to tell him that one of my Dad's clients wants to meet up with me."

"Oh? What kind of surprise you have in store for him?" Jan Di asks excitedly.

"That's what I don't know…" She looks at her friends for help. "Can you give me any ideas?"

"Don't look at me!" Jan Di says. "The only surprise I ever gave Jun Pyo was when I agreed to marry him! Oh, and when I kicked him out of his wits." All of them howled in laughter.

"I still remember that time he proposed! He couldn't get over the idea that you said yes!" Jae Kyung recalls in between her fits of giggles.

"Yeah. You have to admit, though, it was so sweet of him when he cried, Jan Di! And the setting was so beautiful too!" Ga Eul looks at her friend who was already looking away, trying to hide the blush on her cheeks and the silly smile on her face.

"What about you Ga Eul? You never planned a surprise for Yi Jung?" Jan Di and Jae Kyung turned to her. Ga Eul looks down on her tea but her friends can still see the faint blush on her cheeks and they were sure it's not from the cold weather. They smile at this. Even though it's been a year since Ga Eul and Yi Jung got married, she's still that same blushing Chu Ga Eul who's so inlove with So Yi Jung.

"I have surprised him several times… He always surprises me so I thought maybe I should do something for him too." Ga Eul glances at her friends and both of them are urging her to continue. "There was this one time during his birthday. And that one time during Valentine's day. Some days were random and I just felt like surprising him."

"And Yi Jung appreciated all of it? I mean, I'm just worried Woo Bin might not like my surprise for him…" Jae Kyung trails off anxiously.

"He did! He was happy with all of it." Ga Eul stops as she tries to recall every surprise she had made for Yi Jung. "Well, sort of. There was this time he got sort of mad at me."

"Sort of mad at you? When? Why?" Jan Di asks in concern. "You never told me that!"

"No! It wasn't like that. It's not a big argument."

"Then why did he 'got sort of mad at you'?"

Ga Eul's blush turns a darker shade of red. She looks down at her feet in embarrassment. Her friends raise their eyebrows in interest.

"You're not telling us something, are you?" Jan Di leans closer. "Yah! Ga Eul-ah! Tell us! What is it?"

"Okay!" Ga Eul surrenders. She holds her now cold cup of tea. She starts to absentmindedly fiddle with the cup's handle as she tells her story. "Last year was our first Christmas as a married couple, right?" She stops as her mouth curves up into an almost embarrassed smile. "Well, Yi Jung was in Sweden two weeks before Christmas because of his Christmas exhibit. And some clients wanted to talk to him about another exhibit to be held in New York. He didn't know if he could come back in time for Christmas so of course I also didn't know when he'd come back. Well… he came back four days before Christmas but I didn't know about it. He wanted to surprise me…" She stops as she lets out a small laugh. "But it seems I surprised him!"

"Why, what happened?" Jan Di and Jae Kyung lean closer, getting more and more curious.

"You know my obsession for candy canes every Christmas?"

Ga Eul watches as Jan Di's eyes widen. "No!" Jan Di suddenly shouts in disbelief. She is Ga Eul's best friend since kindergarten so she knows how crazy Ga Eul can be about candy canes, especially during the holidays. But Jae Kyung only looks at them in confusion as both of them start to chuckle. "He didn't know about that obsession when you were dating, did he?"

"No, he didn't. Sort of." She shrugs. "He knows I hand out candy canes every Christmas Eve. So I thought maybe he knew…"

"Ha! You should have thought twice before you did a crazy thing like that!" Jan Di laughs some more.

"Yah! What is it? What? I'm in suspense here!" Jae Kyung looks at them expectantly.

"Well, last Christmas…"

"_Ga Eul! Honey! I'm back!" Yi Jung calls out before looking around their house. He smiles when he sees the decorations Ga Eul put up. There are Christmas lights along the stair handles. Along the border of their front door are red and green ribbons tied in several poinsettia flowers. There are Santa Claus and snowman figurines on the receiving area's side table. Everything is perfect except… his wife is still nowhere to be seen._

_He starts to wonder where she is. Butler Kim comes inside the house, carrying his luggage from the car._

"_Butler Kim, where's Ga Eul?"_

"_Mistress Chu might be in the living room, Master So. She spends most of her afternoons there." The butler bowed in respect before he continued carrying Yi Jung's luggage upstairs._

_Yi Jung grins at the thought of seeing his wife again after a week of being apart. He couldn't wait to tell her all about his exhibit in Sweden. He missed chatting with her, he missed seeing her smile, he missed hearing her laugh and he missed smelling her sweet berry hair… He just missed her terribly._

"_Ga Eul!" He calls out in a sing-song voice. "I'm back!"_

_So Yi Jung finally arrives at the living room but the sight in front of him made him stop smiling._

_All around him, he can see stripes. The sofa, his favourite leather sofa, is covered in a white seat cover with green and blue stripes. The throw pillows are white with streaks of red and pink. The rug is changed into a white one with multi-color streaks. Oh, and the Christmas tree! He never, in his 28 years of existence, saw anything like that. The tree is white. But someone seemed to have painted stripes of green, blue and red on the branches. Pink ribbons encircled the tree. And the Christmas balls are no exception. The Christmas balls are green with red stripes. Candy canes are also draped on the tree. Speaking of candy canes… He hadn't noticed that one throw pillow on the sofa is in the shape of a candy cane. The whole living room has candy canes hanged on the walls!_

_Finally, he can't take it anymore. He closed his eyes. _Breathe in. Breathe out.

"_CHU GA EUL!" He shouts. Now, he's sure Ga Eul will hear his call with the volume of his voice._

_He hears banging from the kitchen, some shuffling. Finally, his wife, his beloved wife who seems to have a fascination for candy canes (which he obviously didn't know), comes out from the kitchen door._

_Ga Eul cluelessly looks around, carrying a plate full of cupcakes topped with white frosting with streaks of blue, red and green. What else? More stripes. _

_She finally sees him opposite her and her eyes light up in pleasure. Now, how can he get mad when he's greeted with a face as gorgeous as that? She hurriedly puts down the tray on the coffee table and runs to him in open arms. Yi Jung automatically catches her, lifts her up and twirls her as she laughs happily while caressing her husband's face; all of Yi Jung's earlier frustration forgotten._

_Yi Jung puts her down and hugs her tightly, not willing to let her go. Closing his eyes, he breathes in the smell of her hair and he realizes again how much he misses her._

"_I miss you." He whispers and it took all of Ga Eul's willpower not to melt in his arms. _

_Instead, Ga Eul smiles in his warm embrace and replies, "I miss you too, Yi Jung-ah."_

_Yi Jung opens his eyes but before he could look directly into her stunning doe eyes, he stops when he sees the Christmas tree behind her. He remembers now why he shouted her name earlier. He breaks the hug and he holds both her shoulders instead._

"_Ga Eul-ah. What is this?" He asks calmly._

"_What is what?" Oh, how he forgot how clueless his wife can be._

"_What are these decorations? Why is the living room full of…stripes?" He tries not to spit out the word._

"_Oh." Ga Eul grins as she looks around. "They're beautiful, aren't they? I thought maybe this Christmas; our theme can be candy canes." She stops grinning when she sees her husband's face. "What? You don't like them?"_

"_Honey! Don't you think the stripes are too much? Even the rug has stripes!" Yi Jung tells her incredulously._

"_Yeah. I thought that was a nice little touch, actually. Oh, you're reacting too much!" Ga Eul waves her hand in dismissal. She goes over to her cupcakes, lifts one up and hands it over to Yi Jung. "You must taste this! The frosting has mint flavor like candy canes. I found the recipe on the internet, and I tried it two days ago! Butler Kim and the maids said it was good so I thought maybe I could bake more cupcakes to give out to Jan Di and Jun Pyo, Ji Hoo and Woo Bin."_

_Yi Jung takes the cupcake from her but doesn't say a thing. He sighs in defeat before dropping on the 'candy cane' sofa, now feeling the exhaustion overwhelming him. Ga Eul sits beside him and he sees she is already happily munching a mouthful of cupcake._

"_Ga Eul-ah…" Yi Jung tries to reason with her again. Will their Christmas be a candy cane Christmas? Just thinking about it makes his head ache._

"_Hmm?" She looks at him and smiles. "How was Sweden? How was the exhibit?"_

_Yi Jung eats the whole cupcake (delicious, as always). He looks at her as he slowly chews the minty little thing. Oh, really, how can he resist her smile?_

"_It was fine. I had a lot of good feedbacks from all those who came. My next sponsored exhibit is after New Year. It's supposed to be in New York but I asked the sponsors if we could do it here instead since I don't want to be away from home during the New Year." Yi Jung says after he finished eating the cupcake. He smiles at her and hugs her from behind. "I don't want to be away from you..." He tells her the last line as he pulls her closer, and buries his head in her hair._

_Ga Eul sighs as she leans into his warmth. "I really missed you. I thought you weren't coming home for Christmas."_

"_Hmmm… well, I thought I shouldn't miss this candy cane stunt you pulled so I came back." Yi Jung murmurs from behind her. He grins and he can feel Ga Eul laughing in front of him._

"_You really hate it, don't you?"_

"_Oh, I'm sorry I'm too obvious." Yi Jung tells her in a teasing tone. He looks around the living room again and sighs. If his little angel wants this, how could he say 'no'? He spots a big basketful of candy canes at the corner of the living room, opposite the Christmas tree. "What are those for? Why are there so many candy canes?" He slowly stands up and walks to the corner._

"_Oh, remember I always give out candy canes during Christmas Eve? You know, to those people I pass by during the day. It's for that." Ga Eul also stood up and followed him to the basket. _

"_Ah, yes." Yi Jung nods his head in recognition. "Tell me why I didn't notice your obsession with candy canes back then."_

_Ga Eul giggles again as she watches him pull out the largest candy cane, almost the size of a real cane. "And what is this huge one for?"_

_She smiles at him and takes the candy cane from his hand. "Oh, it's for my favourite person in the world." She tells him in a soft voice. Yi Jung raises his eyebrows in curiosity._

"_Really? And who might that be?" As he asks this, he didn't notice that he was already walking towards her, like she's a magnet he can't resist._

"_Hmm..." Ga Eul kisses his nose softly and briefly before she held out the candy cane. The curved part of the cane is behind Yi Jung and Ga Eul is holding the end of the cane. "My favourite person in the world…" Ga Eul pulls the cane swiftly but before Yi Jung could react, Ga Eul's lips were already on his. He can feel her smile as she continues to kiss him. "…is you." She manages to say in between kisses. Ga Eul's eyes closes as her husband deepens the kiss and takes away the candy cane from her hand._

"_You know what? I think I could start obsessing with candy canes from now on."_

Jan Di and Jae Kyung are looking at her with those goofy grins on their faces.

"Yah! Don't look at me like that!" Ga Eul's face is already so red from her storytelling.

"I didn't think you could be that naughty, Ga Eul. And to think we've been best friends since kindergarten…" Jan Di teases her.

"Yah!" Ga Eul puts her hands on her face in embarrassment. "I shouldn't have told you that last part!"

"You think if I did that to Woo Bin, he would want to see more candy canes again?" Jae Kyung laughs as Ga Eul blushed a deeper shade of red, if that's even possible.

"Ga Eul! I'm back!" Yi Jung calls out to his wife. With a basket in his arms, he immediately walks to the living room where he knew his wife would be waiting for him with hot chocolate (mint, as usual) served on the table. It's finally 'normal-looking' this holiday, without the stripes all over the furniture, walls and floor. He has to thank their little angels for that.

"Yi Jung-ah!" Ga Eul greets her husband happily. She's currently sitting on the sofa with a cup of warm hot chocolate in one hand while the other hand rests on her tummy. Yi Jung couldn't help but stare at her in amazement. His wife is glowing. And under the lovely decorations, she looks even more stunning.

"How are our little twins?" Yi Jung drops the basket on the floor beside the coffee table before sitting beside Ga Eul. He puts his hand on her tummy and waits for a response from their children. Ga Eul smiles as she watches him whisper caressing words like he always does when he comes home from work.

"What's the basket for?" Ga Eul inquires.

"Candy canes. For your annual candy cane giving, you know?" Yi Jung grins at her. "I thought I should get used to your traditions."

"Oh, thank you." And she couldn't thank him enough. She thought she couldn't do it this Christmas because of her pregnancy but if Yi Jung's coming with her then it's more than enough for her.

She stops when she sees the look Yi Jung is giving her. "What?" She raises her eyebrows.

"I'm waiting for my kiss." Yi Jung tells her in a playful tone.

"Wha-?" She stops then laughs at his juvenile behaviour. "You do know you could just kiss me without doing these things, right?"

He grins at her. "I know. But I just thought it'd be sweeter if I earned the kiss. Last year's kiss is the best one yet… after our wedding kiss, that is." He smirks at her before he leans closer until he can already feel her warm breath.

"I love you, So Yi Jung." She whispers, full of love in her eyes.

"I love you, too, Chu Ga Eul." He murmurs, thinking he couldn't love another woman like he loves this little angel in front of him.

Perhaps this Christmas kiss would be better that last year? What do you think?


End file.
